UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, who has faced criticism for antisemitic statements, sent a letter in early May to Dani Naveh – the president and CEO of the New York-based Development Corporation for Israel (DCI), also known as Israel Bonds—alleging there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the company is aiding and abetting crimes against humanity in the Palestinian territories.
In the letter, Albanese informed Naveh saying, “[I am] currently preparing my annual report to the UN Human Rights Council on the matter of the private sector’s involvement in Israel’s occupation, in the context of the genocidal violence unfolding in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that DCI is contributing to gross human rights violations that require the immediate cessation of the concerned business activity, and the remedy of the harm done to Palestinians,” Albanese wrote, calling out Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, the Jewish National Fund and “charities set up to support illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank” in particular.
“I would welcome any information or clarifications you may have on this by 11:00 a.m. Central European Time on June 5,” Albanese wrote to Naveh.
Albanese is apparently referring to the Human Rights Council session scheduled for June 16.
However, the Israel Bonds CEO told the Jewish National Syndicate (JNS) that he chose not to respond to Albanese’s letter.
“Israel Bonds is an American broker-dealer that sells bonds to support the Jewish homeland – America’s strongest ally in the Middle East,” Naveh told JNS. “We will not be deterred by our enemies driven by antisemitism.”
California Democratic Representative Brad Sherman slammed Albanese’s letter, calling it the latest in a “long history of antisemitism.”
“Only for a demonstrated antisemite like Ms. Albanese could stabilizing Israel’s economy after the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust be something negative,” Sherman said in a statement.
“This is just the latest instance in Ms. Albanese’s long history of antisemitism – she has regularly used antisemitic terms like the ‘Jewish lobby’ and claims that Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself or even to exist,” the congressman continued.
Sherman, a member of the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services Committees, said that Albanese represents “the blatant antisemitism that is allowed to fester at the United Nations.”
“There’s a substantial amount of blood on her hands, but her victims live in countries that she doesn’t care about,” Sherman told JNS.
He said that Albanese, like other anti-Israel activists, is blinded by her antisemitism, and doesn’t understand how her actions hurt “the most vulnerable.”
“Ms. Albanese condemns, and seeks to prevent, every effort of the Israeli government to feed and house its poorest citizens and care for the disabled,” Sherman said. “Due to her blinding rage of antisemitism, she seeks to hurt the most vulnerable.”
Recently, the UN Human Rights Council renewed Albanese’s three-year term, despite objections from countries like the United States and organizations such as UN Watch, which have highlighted not only her controversial statements but also her ties to groups supporting the terrorist organization Hamas.
The head of the U.S. Department of Justice Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, Leo Terrell, wrote a letter to the UN, calling on it to remove Albanese over her repeated “defamatory” actions against Israel.
In 2024, Albanese authored a report claiming that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met,” despite the International Court of Justice refusing to make the same determination.
In his letter, Terrell said that “a special rapporteur who consistently minimizes or excuses terrorism when it targets Jews forfeits all authority to speak on human rights.”
